In the "artillery fire", Major General Craddock looked extremely embarrassed.

The "enemy ship" that had already successfully achieved the advantage of firepower output was constantly in the process of pressing, desperately firing its cannons, and according to the limits of the calculation data of the director team, they even risked the danger caused by overheating of the gun chamber and various other improper operations, endlessly loading and firing!

Such an unreasonable tactic was something that the British had not thought of before.

Major General Craddock couldn't bear it anymore and roared angrily at the Chinese observer: "This is not right! It is impossible for the enemy we set to adopt such reckless tactics! They are sending them to death, sir, you cannot expect such a strange change from an enemy, accustomed to mechanical thinking and rigid dogma! ”

The Chinese observer, a young man who had just graduated from the Naval Academy for three years, replied calmly in the face of the British without the slightest fear: "Sir with all due respect, you cannot guarantee that the enemy you have learned before is real. Modern warfare has changed so much that it is common to misjudge the model and name of enemy ships when it is time to go to war. Also, maybe the other side has intercepted the contents of the telegram you sent, and knows that a reinforcement fleet is coming at full speed. They also do this to buy time. ”

"That can't be!" Major General Craddock waved his hand categorically, "It is impossible for the Germans to intercept our telegram Well, I mean, even if the enemy can detect our telegram signal and intercept it, there is no way to decrypt it." In this regard, we have sufficient confidence. ”

The corners of the observer's mouth twitched slightly, and he thought to himself, "Maybe that?" At least your primitive encryption methods are almost as transparent as they are in our case. ”

But the British bite stubbornly, and he can't afford to argue with his neck, so what if he wins verbally? Can you still expect the other party to perform according to the script?

Don't even think about it!

The observer looked down at the thick exercise manual he was holding, and smiled indifferently: "Okay. Since you insist, I can write this into the record, but the battleship on the other side doesn't care what you or I think, at least until the director team intervenes, the strike benchmarks they execute are all in accordance with the preset logic. ”

Major General Craddock snorted. Gritted his teeth, he turned his head back to the command seat.

He knew that he was doomed to lose money. The director team can't obviously pull the bias, this time it was originally a mutual temptation drama, whoever tears his face first or admits defeat, who is equivalent to falling behind, at this point, how can the arrogant Brit bow his head and submit to softness?

With a gloomy face, His Excellency the Rear Admiral stared at the enemy ships approaching in the distance, and ordered the flagship to stabilize its speed and course. Try to fire back as much as possible. At the same time, the two old-fashioned armored ships that were attacking behind were also slowly pressing, trying to help the capital ships resist with their fairly thick armor.

The numerical advantage of the British side lies in this, I can't beat you alone, and a group of people will consume you!

The attacking attack ship saw it clearly, and the veterans of the rear director team also nodded secretly, this should be the best way. In a situation where speed and maneuverability and even the density of firepower are at a disadvantage in an all-round way, you can only play to your advantages as much as possible. in exchange for the final victory.

Rear Admiral Craddock was fairly clear-headed, knowing that his mission was not to take out enemy ships. Instead, they managed to hold him back, so that the rear defenses would not be empty, and his attacks on the coastal cities would succeed.

From the other side's point of view, in the process of launching a sabotage attack, it was discovered and intercepted successfully, and the mission was already half of the failure. The smartest choice is to break through the barriers as quickly as possible. Take advantage of speed and maneuverability to escape.

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were no reconnaissance planes over the ocean, and radio signals were scarce, and in the Indian Ocean, where there were not many ships on either side, it was only necessary to start a race for several hours. Or a fog, a storm, or the simplest one night, you can get out of it.

So, did the guy on the other side adopt such a "sensible" strategy?

Rear Admiral Craddock had no way of knowing, he firmly resisted the opponent with his flagship for a while, and stubbornly held out until the opponent entered a distance of about five kilometers from him, and then resolutely ordered the battleship to turn quickly at the risk of capsizing, and suddenly adjusted the attitude of the enemy ship to a 60-degree angle to an oblique confrontation.

This was already the limit of what he could do, and the effect was also very obvious, the attack fire on the opposite side, so he had to stop for about three minutes.

Three minutes, that is to say, a few words, when I usually entertain and entertain, I can't feel that short.

But in the fierce naval battle, every second is infinitely magnified, and staring at the movement of the opponent's cannon is simply an invisible torture, torturing the hearts of every soldier!

Major General Craddock's adventure was a success!

The rapid maneuver caused his own battleship to roll violently, and it took a long time to stabilize it. However, because Britain has adopted an optimized structure that is more suitable for bad sea conditions in the design of warships early, the recovery ability of this unconventional maneuver is obviously better than that of the target enemy ship - this is also recognized by the director team.

At the same time, because the opposing attack ship had lost its effective coordinates, it had to make temporary corrections and make corresponding maneuver adjustments. And because of the high speed, they also had to stop firing.

As a result, there was a brief but precious silence on the surface of the sea where the battle was fierce.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, two British armored ships caught up! Their main guns are small in caliber and short in barrel, short in range and weak in power, and according to the design year, their locked engagement range is within 3,000 meters, and the best strike distance is within 1,000 meters. Even in the current battle, in addition to artillery fire, don't expect to be able to hit the other side, their biggest role is to be cannon fodder!

On the attack ship, a group of Chinese naval officers clearly judged the intentions of the British and praised them sincerely: "It is worthy of the British Empire, with great wealth!" More than a thousand warships are no joke, and no one really can afford them. ”

The Royal Navy of the British Empire, at its peak reached a terrible figure of 2.7 million tons in total! In terms of comprehensive strength, it can properly confront the whole world, and the famous photo of King George VI inspecting the Grand Fleet in July 1914 is enough to reflect its grand occasion. It was an unprecedented feat that no one could achieve except for the US imperialism, which dominated the world after World War II!

In this plane. Because of the defeat in the Far East before 1900, the British became much less arrogant, and Queen Victoria died with regret, which also made this generation of British Navy hold back a wave of anger in their hearts, and tried every means to vent it.

Otherwise, the British would not have been in such a financially tight situation. If you go out, you will desperately occupy the top spot in the shipbuilding competition.

At the beginning of the establishment of the New China Navy, Yang Haiwei took out that famous photo and shook the admirals and students fiercely, so that they really knew what it means to be the world's first-class power!

If you don't have a strong enough navy and a powerful maritime power that can rival the rest of the world, you can't be qualified to dominate the world. It took hundreds of years of accumulation for the British to rob more than eighty percent of the world's countries to achieve today's achievements. China wants to take its place. Not to mention a hundred years of hard work, at least fifty years of continuous efforts can be bold enough to say such big things.

Being number one in the world also usually means that the number of enemies is the largest. In order to withstand the resistance and confrontation of the whole world, and to have the means to maneuver in it, it is necessary to transcend politics, economy, culture, military, finance, and other aspects in an all-round way.

How hard it is to do it!

Now, Major General Craddock is performing live. It taught a vivid lesson to everyone. At the moment of crisis, the British were able to break their wrists. Desperately sacrificing two old armored ships and paying hundreds of casualties, but also in exchange for the opportunity to attack the heavy artillery flagship!

Such a resoluteness is not comparable to the Chinese Navy, which has just started as an army and is reluctant to sacrifice every warship!

The officers and men of the Chinese Navy did not dare to sacrifice. They are reluctant. Everyone knows very well that their own warships are not easy to come by, and they will never give up and destroy them lightly until they have to. They would rather use their flesh and blood to resist the enemy's cannons than save the battleship. Enriching national defense. This is completely different from Li Zhongtang's war-avoiding protection ship.

Emotion is emotion, since the enemy has sent it to the door, there is absolutely no reason to let go.

Seeing the two armored ships one after the other, the oblique spurs cut in horizontally, and the old and rough hull was like a trembling old man entering his twilight years, trying to make himself look more energetic, but he couldn't give full play to the brilliance of youth.

The assault ship was like a shark that was not afraid of meat and vegetables, and resolutely pointed its guns at this big dish delivered to the door!

"Boom! Boom, boom! ”

A barrage of heavy artillery fire is boiling! Strings of shells smashed into enemy ships within visual distance. At a close distance of less than four kilometers, the superior artillery exerted amazing accuracy, and with a series of hits, the British armored ship that rushed to the front was hit by a full seven 280mm armor-piercing shells! In addition, there are more than 20 rounds of 150mm grenades, turning the "powerful" battleship that could still show off its might in the Far East more than ten years ago into a torch that is enough to light up half of the sky!

The other armored ship didn't hold up for a moment, and when it bravely showed its old figure, a cannonball swooped down on it, and its main guns were completely blown into dumb.

"General, two of our warships have been judged to be incapacitated."

The telegram from the director's team was sent in time, and Rear Admiral Craddock was so angry that he almost smashed the telegram on the spot, but his eyes became sharper and sharper, looking at the attack ship that had been cut directly in front by himself, and shouted categorically: "Their sacrifice is worthwhile, we just need to fire with all our strength and kill that guy, which is enough to comfort their undead!" Listen to my orders, aim at the enemy ship and fire with all your might! ”

"Open fire on the enemy with all your might!"

The unwilling roar echoed on the battleship, and in every turret and every post, you could see the excited sailors and officers running quickly and working hard.

However, their efficiency, in the eyes of observers, is simply weak!

The distance was too far before, beyond the ship's optical ranging ability, it was almost impossible to hit by visual fire alone, and the rate of fire was not fast, so I couldn't see how it was.

Now, the distance between the two sides is almost four kilometers, which is too close and very dangerous under the advanced naval artillery. Any skilled artillery squad should be able to show excellent marksmanship.

But the British behaved differently!

On the entire battleship, in the two most critical twin 305mm turrets, everyone showed a strangeness and clumsiness in obtaining ranging data, adjusting the turret pointing and high and low position, reporting to the commander, correcting the data and grasping the moment of firing.

What's going on?! Could it be that Chengdu has reached such a point, and the British still have to hide their clumsiness?

The young observer was so confused that he couldn't figure it out.

Major General Craddock, who had a gloomy face, knew very well that what he was most worried about had appeared!

Since the end of the naval war in the Far East, for more than ten years, the construction of naval equipment, especially warships, has been extremely fast, and these guys who have been continuously expanding the size and increasing the caliber of the main guns after the emergence of the "Sovereign class" have not changed much in essence. And when they were just built and launched in batches, a new generation of dreadnoughts - all-main gun battleships were born several years ahead of schedule because of the trend led by the Chinese!

Of course, this made many armored ships that the British should have built in history stillborn, correspondingly, battleships with full main guns or mixed large-caliber main guns were also interviewed in advance, and the number of construction was not reduced by a few.

But the consequences were very serious, those old warships that followed the "monarch-class" structure were left behind when launched, marginalized, and sent to play the majority of colonial fleets far from the mainland. The home fleet, however, is constantly seeking new warships with greater power.

As a result, these battleships, which were thrown to the edge, were empty of steel and iron and terrifying artillery, and did not actually play any role. In the patrol vigilance of the colony, at best, it was only necessary to dispatch cruisers, and these ironclads, almost unanimously stopped in the harbor, occasionally came out for a turn.

For more than ten years, they have hardly ever run!

No matter how good the thing is, if it is not used for more than ten years, it will also have problems. No matter how good the officers and men of the navy are, they have not been sharpened in actual combat for a long time, and their hands are still raw. When the battle started, in the face of a large number of mechanical equipment that had not been run-in, they could not exert even thirty percent of their combat effectiveness despite their best efforts.

Tragedy was born.

Rear Admiral Craddock was careful to plan, even at the cost of fighting two armored ships, and finally grabbed the position and distance to exert his own firepower, but when he opened fire, he collectively dropped the chain!

Watching his artillery slowly aim at the other party, watching a salvo hit over, after the smoke was blown away by the strong wind, I was stunned to hear the director's reply - MISS!

The enemy on the opposite side reacts much faster! After just one volley, they slowed down and adjusted their attitude while firing from the bow and side turrets, and the latter came first, hitting the hull of the British flagship fiercely, and the close-range blow of the 280mm armor-piercing shell easily tore through the narrow 225mm armor belt and penetrated deep into the interior of the battleship.

The successive strikes were successful, and a fire "rose" in front of Rear Admiral Craddock's eyes, the front turret failed, half of the firepower was scrapped, the power system failed under the bombardment, the speed plummeted by a third, the casualties were heavy, the command tower was shot, the side hole was flooded, the hull was out of balance, the antenna was interrupted, and communications were lost.

In Mumbai's directorial team, the British generals were all black-faced, and they had witnessed the defeat of the mighty Imperial Navy, but they could not pick out the slightest thorn in it.

Reports from Chinese observers at any time presented the situation in a nutshell. The dignified British Imperial Navy, which represents the benchmark of the world's first-class level, is actually unable to give full play to the performance of its own capital ships in actual combat.

It's not like God is playing a joke on us, is it?! Or is Major General Craddock deliberately showing weakness?

When you think about it, it's almost impossible, it's ridiculous! There is only one truth, the British lost to themselves, and the problems that they had never discovered before, or that were deliberately ignored, were fully exposed during the exercises, and were "forced" out by the Chinese, showing their ugliness and being embarrassed!

The old man Sa Zhenbing was unforgiving, and comforted the British in a fake way: "This may not be a bad thing, it can detect problems in advance and avoid being caught off guard when a war breaks out in the future." I feel that our exercise has gained the meaning it deserves. ”

The Brit pinched his nose and reluctantly said, "Thank you Chinese friends for your help!" ”

In fact, their hearts are angry! (To be continued.) )